What Information Needs to Be Shared
Soler and Peters (1993) emphasize the importance of limiting the information that is collected and shared by partners in integrated services:
"Confidentiality statutes and agency practices increasingly emphasize that workers collect, maintain, and share only the information directly relevant to the agency's purpose. More information is not necessarily better. Collecting excess and irrelevant information has significant costs and liabilities." (p. 8)
Constantine, Aronson, and Wilber (1994) agree: "Agencies should collect and record only that information that is genuinely needed to fulfill the goal of serving the client" (p. 106). McWhinney, Haskins-Herkenham, and Hare (1992) add, "The information shared should be necessary for the fulfillment of team educational objectives" and "The sharing of information should be in the best interest of the student" (p. 4).
Collecting and recording only the information genuinely needed to fulfill agency goals is especially challenging with computerized data systems. Staff may be inclined to include unnecessary information merely because the computer system has enough memory for it.
In a report titled Standards for Data Exchange and Case Management Information Systems in Support of Comprehensive Integrated School-Linked Services, Constantine, Aronson, and Wilber (1994) present model standards for information exchange in support of integrated school-linked services. Their Basic Principles offer guidelines for information sharing.
